Broadway Market: Borough Olives and Violet Cakes

Friday, September 02, 2011

There's something to be said for lazy Saturday mornings spent at food markets. Sure, dining out at fancy restaurants has its perks... but still, who doesn't love hand-picking the ingredients for the perfect picnic lunch from a collection of delightful farmers' stalls and bakers?


















This is a photo of the Borough Olives stall. It's packed with olives, sauces, pestos and delicious pickled ingredients.

















There are lots of different varieties. Some of the olives here are stuffed with things like capers or garlic, and some of them are tossed in olive oil with herbs. You pick the bits you like and fill up a container which is then weighed.

















Generally I don't like olives very much but these were oh-so-delicious looking that I couldn't resist trying them.

















This is harissa. It's a sort of chilli paste, made with fresh (super hot!) chillies blended with garlic, salt and olive oil. It is much, much spicier than you think it is. (Yes, even spicier than that.)

















This is the pièce de résistance: the famous Borough Olives pesto. Made with pecorino, cashew nuts, rapeseed oil and garlic, it's spectacular. 

We left with a tub of pesto, harissa, olives (mixed), pickled gherkins and feta cheese. For the record, there were four of us. On the way out of the market we stopped off at 'Born and Bread', the recommended sourdough baker, to pick up a few loaves of delicious bread. We also popped over to the folks at La Tua Pasta to ogle their new flavours (yum) and while we were there, we spied these over at Violet Cakes:

















Lookee! Giant chocolate cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream!

















... and pretty red velvet cupcakes. Isn't the sign quaint? I love the faux typewriter effect. 

Needless to say, after a successful day market-shopping we ended up with a picnicky smorgasbord of delicious meze. 

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